Edifying the Church

By Greg Laurie, Op-ed contributor Thursday, February 16, 2006

Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. —Colossians 1:28

I think one of the reasons false teaching is gaining a foothold in our churches today is that we have largely abandoned the teaching of God's Word. A main goal of the church should be the edification of believers. The apostle Paul said his goal was not merely to evangelize, but to present every man mature in Christ (see Colossians 1:28).

Paul explained how important edifying the church was when he wrote,

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. . . . (Ephesians 4:11–14)

That is what it's all about when we gather together as believers. It is not to just sing a few songs, put something in the offering, listen to a few words, and then go and pick up our kids from the children's ministry. We are to be equipped as God's people to do His work, to be mature, and to grow up. We are to become more and more in every way like Jesus.

If you attend church with that objective, then you can be transformed. But if you come with the intent to simply go through the motions, then you will get very little out of it.

Used with Permission